Author Topic: Micah Sere, AKA Prowler  (Read 4611 times)

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Micah Sere, AKA Prowler
« on: September 06, 2017, 03:52:04 PM »
CHARACTER

Name: Micah Sere

Alias: Prowler

Theme Music: The Best It's Gonna Get (Vs Tainted Remix) by Celldweller

Age: 42

Species and Gender: Faunus (Hyena), Male

Symbol: Micah's symbol is an old standby from his days as a hired gun: a bleached-white skull, sans jawbone, with a distinctive bullet hole placed squarely in its forehead. He uses the symbol sparingly so that it cannot be used to track or identify him, but does have it branded on his sniper rifle / glaive.

Spoiler: ShowHide


Occupation: Freelance assassin, saboteur, and infiltrator

Appearance:

Micah is a man who has not worn his own face in a long, long time.

A victim of a brutal attack when he was a child, Micah is permanently disfigured and scarred from head to toe. When "being himself", he covers his face with a long, tightly bound wrap of smoke gray cloth which reveals only his steely gray eyes and withered lips, the rest of him being covered neck to toe in a special form-fitting jumpsuit that serves as a second skin. This jumpsuit is important; the third-degree burns which cover most of his body have rendered Micah almost unable to feel anything but the worst pain as well as badly throwing off his sense of touch, so the suit was commissioned from a talented neurosurgeon to tap directly into his spine and artificially relay basic touch, heat / cold, and pain signals. It's not exactly true to life, but it does inform Micah, for example, if he's been wounded -- very important information for someone in his line of work. The sensitivity of the body suit can be adjusted via a few switches and a tiny, mostly flat dial located (surgically implanted, in fact) at the base of his spine, just above his tailbone (a flat cover ensures the controls don't get bumped or turned by accident). The body suit has an additional piece to cover his face, however he seldom ever wears it when not in disguise.

At roughly 4' 9", Micah is not an imposing figure naturally -- this and more, however, can readily be changed. The one benefit of his lifelong affliction is that Micah has become adept at the art of disguise; initially he developed the skill just to be able to interact with society on a basic level but over time honed both his talent and his resources to make a vast array of different appearances possible. With enough time and access to his carefully procured kit he can change himself to look like almost anyone: fat or thin, male or female, tall or as short as he himself, human or Faunus, there are remarkably few limits when you have the right resources to work with. When doing the work of a sniper or scout instead of infiltrator Micah will often wear one of several long, weathered hooded cloaks he owns, choosing the hue to best match his expected surroundings. Underneath he typically dons a simple, flexible set of dark gray leather armor pieces, specifically: chest, leg, and left side forearm, an arrangement intended to provide passable protection while not hindering movement or targeting. For a final touch, Micah has a pair of black-lensed smart goggles which greatly enhance his options as a scout, covert infiltrator, and sniper -- this high tech and heavily modified eye wear can not only sync with the scope on his rifle and provide night vision and infrared camera settings, it also has many of the same communication functions as a Scroll built in (with a heavy helping of high-end signal encryption to prevent back-traces and hacking attempts).


History:

Once upon a time, there was a little boy who just wanted to fit in, but couldn't. It didn't help that he grew up in a Mistral orphanage with many other children, nor that the people running it were lazy and willing to turn a blind eye. It also didn't help that the boy was born with many, many distinctive spots all over his body, something he tried to hide but couldn't. The other children knew him for what he was: a freak.

There were other 'freaks' at the orphanage, of course. There was a boy with a tail and a girl with a forked tongue and several others, but they had learned to hide what they were or were big and strong enough that the mean children didn't bother them. Not so with the spotted boy. He was small, and thin, and not very scary. They made fun of his spots, of his nervous, awkward laugh. They made him dance while they threw rocks at him until they got bored, leaving him to bleed. They pushed him against walls, and down stairs, and into dusty closets with locks on the door. They made it very clear that he wasn't wanted... yet the boy had nowhere to go, and every time he ran away he simply got dragged back and scolded. Each day the mean children made up some new game to play at his expense. Each day was a fresh hell. And nobody would help the spotted boy; the grown ups were too busy, or too tired, or did not believe him, and the other freak children were content to let him soak up the abuse so they would be left alone.

One day, the orphanage set out on a camping trip. At first the mean children pushed him into the mud. Then they pushed him down a rocky hill. And then, when no one was looking . . . they pushed him into the camp fire.

The boy would spend much of the next two years in and out of hospitals for treatment. His spots were gone, but now he had scars instead, and couldn't feel the things he touched. Now instead of getting pushed down stairs he fell down by himself, unable to feel the steps beneath his feet. The caress of the wind was lost to him. The warmth of spring and summer, the chill of autumn and winter, all were distant whispers to his senses. He had to take special, uncomfortable baths while nurses watched and check himself every day to see he hadn't unknowingly gotten bruises or cuts or scrapes. Life became a numb progression of days... and in the void of everything he'd lost, he discovered something welling up to take its place: a deep, cold, focused ANGER.

Over the years the boy would gradually become a man and face a cruel, immoral world. He adapted, figured out ways to get by. For a time it was as a beggar, then a cut-purse pretending to be a beggar. That eventually got him enough for the first rudimentary disguises, but they weren't enough to truly disguise who and what he was. A chance encounter with a street gang saw his Aura awaken out of sheer desperation, and it was its healing touch that enabled him to survive the savage beating of that day. Unfortunately, unlocking his Aura came far, far too late to do anything about his disfigurement. What it did do, however, was give him something to work with in his struggle to survive -- something to protect him from harm and, with some practice, make him stronger and faster than he would have been otherwise. It also gave him some rather neat tricks... and, eventually, a career path.

Burglary isn't an elegant way to make a living, it's true. However, it's a bit easier when you have no fingerprints to leave behind and can create a cloud of concealing smoke to cover your entrances and exits. However, when a string of break ins involving "smoke bombs" happen, even in the seedier parts of Mistral, people tend to take notice... but, as fate would have it, someone got to Micah before the authorities did. One day he snuck into the wrong house and came face to face with the business end of a rifle, wielded by a mercenary hit man who was none too pleased to have an unexpected guest. Interrogation, however, led to conversation... and conversation led to an offer. The merc, one mister Callan Verlant, saw in Micah a streetwise amateur with untapped talent and some decent potential -- he had heard about the "smoke bomb" robberies and thus knew Micah's accomplishments almost as well as the young man himself. Callan suspected that Micah could accomplish more... much more, to the profit of them both. Not having any better offers and not expecting such a chance again, Micah warily accepted.

The next fifteen years were spent in a blur. Training, jobs, alcohol -- rinse and repeat. Make or steal lots of money, use it to buy what was needed and what was desired -- rinse and repeat. Micah and Callan maximized their skills and diversified their work; one day it was a paid hit against someone's business rival or rich grandfather, the next day it was filching treasures from private collectors or stealing corporate secrets to sell on the dark corners of the CCTS, and in the mix Micah began to realize that a person without a face can, with a little work, have any face they want... any identity they want. This became a staple of the jobs the two undertook: Callan would make the strategic arrangements and them Micah, in a carefully crafted full body disguise, would gather information or set certain steps in motion. There were a few early missteps, true, a handful of occasions where covers were blown or a disguise failed to hold up to scrutiny, but the more they did it the more expert the two men became at their game of false faces. And the rich and powerful of the Mistral underworld took notice -- in their peak years the duo was seldom not in the employ of one notorious crime lord or another, earning a distinctive reputation for their many successes.

Along the way, Micah had begun funneling much of his newfound wealth into treatments for his body. Healing and protection from his Aura meant that incidental injuries were not such a concern as they'd once been and he had long since learned to cope and adapt to the numb state of his body, but that didn't mean he had no desire to feel again. Any number of therapies and treatments were tried, including direct skin grafts from certain "donors" Micah killed on the job... but nothing really succeeded. Both body and Aura rejected the grafts, "healing" his warped flesh back to what was now its native state -- his self concept had shifted so radically that even his own Aura could no longer remember him as "normal", it seemed. Enraged that science, medicine, and even his own soul should fail to give him any hope at a normal life again, Micah's thoughts instead turned to those responsible for his deformity... and to revenge. With his current skills it was child's play to find those arrogant bastards who'd been oh so merry in tossing him to the flames, laughing as he'd screamed and writhed. None of them got quick or painless deaths -- each found their half-forgotten sins heaped onto their heads like burning coals, literally in one or two cases. Micah now knew exactly how to keep someone alive and in constant anguish for as long as absolutely possible... an art form he was only too glad to demonstrate to his childhood tormentors.

Micah would eventually part -- violently -- with his one-time mentor, killing the man in a drunken brawl over what should have been a minor disagreement. This means that he has "inherited" his partner's "share" of the business, along with most of his contacts and resources. While Micah will occasionally raise a glass to Callan's memory he does not bemoan the man's loss. Everyone dies, after all... the important thing, in Micah's mind, is not to make a waste of it.

Personality:

To say that Micah Sere is a deeply unsettled individual is akin to saying that water is just a little bit wet. He is, to put it bluntly, a sociopath who holds little value for life -- human, Faunus, or otherwise. In his mind the question is never really about 'life or death', since everything and everyone dies eventually, but 'who deserves to suffer' and 'how much'? In Micah's opinion, the Faunus have suffered far more than their share down through the years whereas humanity has insulated themselves from suffering as much as possible. He sees himself as an instrument of "fairness", a tool to "even things out". His entire worldview is colored by this notion of redistribution of suffering, of creating a more "just" and "fair" world through the application of pain. Death, in his mind, is just an escape from the suffering this world brings... and he has helped a lot of people "escape" over the years.

Micah has two settings on his sense of humor: dark, and gallows. As one would expect of a hyena Faunus he has a distinctive laugh that is equal parts humor and discordant wheezing. He has a bad habit of telling stories and jokes that leave people deeply uncomfortable -- unsurprisingly, rather few people tend to socialize with him. That's fine, as Micah is basically a solitary creature at heart. Most of the pleasures of this world are lost to him, aside from food, drink, and smoking, and so he makes his own enjoyment down the scope of his rifle or drawn from the terrified or tormented eyes of others. As one might expect, a person like Micah is a magnet for the creatures of Grimm; to that end he actively avoids being outside of secured, well-defended areas without good reason, making cities his preferred hunting grounds.

Idealism is something Micah discarded a long time ago. He doesn't pay much attention to the public image propaganda of the White Fang and doesn't see himself in its causes or its "better world". However, he has no problem snuffing out the occasional bigot, especially if someone's paying him to do it. He is seldom ever without a pack of smokes tucked into his pockets and can often be seen lighting up, even indoors, not much caring for the complaints others may vo unless they hold authority over himice.


Aura and Semblance:

Micah's Aura is a deeply unsettling midnight black, and becomes visible around the edges of his body any time he uses his Semblance: Smoke Touch. Smoke Touch is much like it sounds -- when active, Micah's touch causes thick, inky smoke to rise from anything he touches. This can be directed via his hands, feet, or even his entire body, allowing him to create a persistent smoke screen which can conceal his presence. As this unnatural smoke is a creation of his Aura it further works to mask his presence, or even the presence of others, from Aura-based detection. A touched spot can generate smoke for up to 30 minutes after initial contact and does not need to be immediately activated, meaning Micah can "mark" a spot with his touch and then activate it later on through a mere exertion of will (so long as he is within a one-mile radius). As the smoke is a construct of his Aura, Micah can sense people and objects who are present in the smokescreen the same way he would a strike against his Aura, making it suitable as an early warning system and advantageous for ambushes. He can also shape and direct the smoke to an extent, forming concentrations into the rough likeness of people, creatures or objects, as well as causing it to drift steadily in chosen directions (so long as wind or other forces aren't acting against it). For one additional nifty trick Micah can rub his hands together and generate a dense "ball" of smoke which he can then lob anywhere within the reach of his throwing arm -- the ball will erupt on contact into a cloud with a roughly 20ft radius.

Aside from bucking the old wisdom that "where there's smoke, there's fire", Micah's smoke behaves very much like regular, natural smoke would. The clouds linger and obscure vision but dissipate with time, wind, or rain. The smoke is also uncomfortable to breathe in, causing minor irritation to the throat and eyes on contact, but has no lingering ill effects and is not toxic in any way. It causes no damage to the objects Micah touches to generate it beyond some minor grime and smoke stains. And, yes, it does set off smoke detectors, which can be a curse or an asset depending on how it's used.


Combat Behavior:

Micah is, first and foremost, a sniper. His first instinct in combat is to find a concealed or advantageous shooting position at significant distance from his target, line up the crosshairs, and solve his problems with the pull of a trigger. That, of course, does not always work. A stand-up fight is, by definition, not a situation Micah prefers to find himself in -- when he does, however, he operates with a mix of military-style tactics and street-smart cunning. He will use his Semblance to confuse, disorient, or outright elude attackers and then re-engage from an angle of his choosing with either a burst of weapons fire or the slash and stab of his polearm. Against a single opponent he prefers to whittle down his foe, make them exhaust themselves in the effort of trying to pin him down before going on the offensive. Against a group of enemies he looks first to break coordination and disrupt teamwork, biding his time to either pick off individual targets or sow enough chaos that he can escape to a better tactical position. The greater the numbers against him, the more Micah prefers to stay at range; he can fight in melee, and will when pushed to, but it's not his personal strength.


WEAPON

Name: Terminus

Primary Form: [SNIPER MODE]

A high powered, state of the art bolt-action smart sniper rifle with a high tech scope and a long reinforced barrel. The scope is one of the best money can buy off the black market: it can zoom in to spot targets at extremely long distances (up to 1000 yards away, conditions dependant), presents digitally-rendered images using a variety of light corrective modes as well as thermal imaging and night vision, and incorporates a computerized tracking and fire system which is scary accurate. It also works in tandem with Micah's smart goggles, making it possible for him to shoot around corners when a situation calls for it. The weapon itself is chambered to fire high caliber ammo from five round clips in this mode, making it a force to be feared. It does not, by default, have an attached silencer, though it can equip one when a situation calls for it. Micah's personal symbol is embossed on the sides of the gun.

In addition to standard sniper-grade ammo, Terminus can chamber a number of highly expensive specialty rounds. These include darts for delivering poison or tranquelizer as well as "tagger rounds": radio frequency based tracking and listening devices the size and thickness of a thumbnail which are flexable in design and can adhere to virtually any smooth surface like a sticker. With these non-damaging ammo types the bullet casing serves as an initial shell which disintegrates mid-air (via a corrosive Dust micro-charge) once the round reaches suitable distance-to-target.

Secondary Form: [COMBAT MODE]

In combat mode, Terminus' long sniper barrel slides most of the way into the body of the gun and the overall weapon arrangement shifts to take on a shape more akin to an assault rifle. In this mode the weapon shifts to a secondary firing system and utilizes smaller caliber ammo in 50-round magazines, able to utilize semi-automatic firing.

Tertiary Form: [TERMINUS BLADE]

In blade mode, Terminus augments its sniper mode with a reinforced barrel suitable as a melee-grip shaft while revealing a long, curved, single-edged metal blade from the weapon's stock, effectively making it into a glaive. It can still fire in this mode, presenting some interesting possibilities when fending off multiple opponents.

Dust Functions:

Like most ranged weapons, Terminus is able to chamber and fire various Dust rounds for elemental damage effects. Of particular note is the high caliber sniper rounds: not only do these pack particular punch, but the ones Micah employs utilize highly potent Dust micro-warheads to deliver large-area splash damage -- Micah refers to these rounds as "instant storm, just add gun" because on impact they release a shockwave of churning, roiling elemental forces. Ice rounds cause a flash freeze effect over a twenty foot radius, fire unleashes a massive fifteen foot wide fireball (and tends to ignite anything even remotely flammable in the immediate area), earth causes a ten minute vibration chain reaction akin to a localized magnitude 8 earthquake, lightning produces a wide area EMP effect (shuts down computers and overloads Scrolls, light sources, androids etc.), and wind literally produces a miniature tornado ten feet wide and thirty feet tall which can last for up to six minutes. And that's the splash damage -- actually getting hit by one of these devastating shells, being at the center of the release of force, would nigh certainly be a fight-ender for even Huntsmen and Huntresses... if not a life-ender.

It's worth noting that unlike his standard sniper ammo these high-potency specialty rounds come in single round clips -- the ammo has to be treated with such care until the time of firing that it needs to be stored under very specific conditions, necessitating the isolation of each bullet. They are also prohibitively expensive and highly illegal, meaning that unless an operation specifically calls for more he would, at most, have only ONE of these on his person at any given time.

History:

Terminus is an unparalleled custom sniping weapon which Micah commissioned, at the cost of a small fortune, from one of the most powerful underworld arms dealers in all of Mistral. It has seen him through much of his mercenary career and continues to be his most reliable, and oftentimes only, trusted ally. He is intimately familiar with the weapon's every component and performs all maintenance on it himself, not comfortable trusting hid death-bringer in the hands of any other.



WEAPON

Name: Grapple Pistol

Primary Form:

A simple but efficient motorized grappling hook utilizing a basic pistol stock and framework, equally useful for rapidly reaching rooftops or scaling cliff faces. The line it fires is woven steel and highly durable and can be quickly fitted with a standard grappling hook, spear-tip, or an electromagnetic clamp, all of which Micah carries with him on missions. It can quickly reel in or sustain up to 250lbs of weight, meaning that Micah and one other person (or large object) can effectively be moved by it.

Secondary Form: {none}

Tertiary Form: {none}

Dust Functions: {none}

History: A simple utility sidearm that Micah acquired to improve his mobility.
« Last Edit: September 07, 2017, 01:21:38 PM by Riven »
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STUDENTS

Beacon Student: Rory Vogel, "The Scarlet Shield" ~ 1st Year, Team VCVS

Shade Student: Sean Acacia, "Grenadier" ~ 1st Year



OTHERS

Beacon Teacher / Experimental Botanist: Dr. Budonoki Sophos, Medical & Wilderness Specialist

Baker / Retired Huntsman: Alec Chadwick, owner of 'Fabled Goods' bakery

Pirate / Freelancer: Captain Cordell of the Red Corsair ~ Available For Hire!

Mercenary / Infiltrator: Micah Sere AKA "Prowler" ~ Danger, Avoid If Possible

Mercenary / Infiltrator: Maria Sanguine AKA "Bloody Mary" ~ Underworld operative, "The Lady of a Thousand Faces"

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Re: Micah Sere, AKA Prowler
« Reply #1 on: September 10, 2017, 11:29:03 AM »
Seems good to me. +1
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Re: Micah Sere, AKA Prowler
« Reply #2 on: September 12, 2017, 01:25:43 PM »
Gonna be honest, the weapon is a pretty OP high-tech weapon. However, I trust you enough that you won't go too overboard with it. Just note that, should you go out of hand with it, you may be asked to nerf the weapon down. Just don't go TOO crazy with it and everything should be fine :)

Approved 2 of 2.
First Year Beacon Student: Rackley Winchester - The Hawkeye Sniper currently Teamless

Second Year Beacon Student: Jett Davenport - The Playful Shadow Knight of Team MLDC (Melodic)

Third Year Beacon Student: Suntalia Lyn Ryker - The Voice of Thunder currently Teamless

Fourth Year Beacon Student: Savas Carnelian - The Quiet Berserker Leader of Team SARK (Stark)

Beacon Professor: Oberon Falcov - The Man With A Plan / Team Strategy Teacher of Beacon